Underutilised Resource Potential and Economics

Abstract

Agriculture is the main occupation of Orissa farmers. Inland fishery invillage ponds over the years has become an important source of subsidiaryincome and employment generation. The present study highlights the im-portance of inland fishery in Orissa, its potentiality and economics of inlandfishery wi th respect to two management practices of fish farming viz, collec-tive and private. The findings in the study suggest that there is an increasingtrend in the demand of inland fishery for consumption purpose but is notmet by the domestic supply of the State which could be due to the fact thatless than half of the poten t ial of the fishery sector is used in the State. Al-though there has been awa r eness about the po t entiality of this sector as asource of additional income and employment in the rural area, the success offishery as a business is relatively more in case of private entrepreneurs ascompared to the village cooperatives and self-help groups. Corrective mea-sures to enhance their awareness, technical and entrepreneurial skillamongst the groups may help in generating more income and employmentin the rural sector in a State where 73 per cent of the main workers find theirsource of livelihood in the primary sector.